What is Holistic Treatment of Pain?

by Danielle A. Sadler, L.Ac Dipl. O.M.

Pain is interesting, and tricky. We have theories that describe the physical processes of pain, how our cells go through chemical changes when they are injured and how those chemicals are taken up to the brain and interpreted as pain. The brain responds by increasing blood flow to the area, causing the symptoms of inflammation and swelling. But most of our theories work to explain acute, recent pain and don't fully explain long-term, complex pain. (1)

In addition, the study of the psychology of pain has established all kinds of factors that can affect how much pain we feel. Our perception of pain can be influenced by the context in which the pain happens, the amount of anxiety we have, our expectations about how much pain we should be in, and many other factors. (2)

​So you can see that while we need to address the physical symptoms of pain, a more effective approach to the treatment of pain involves the mental and emotional components of it as well. We can learn to modify our brain's responses to pain, and decrease the pain we feel, at the same time. When practiced over time, the tools we use to decrease pain naturally have benefits that extend into other areas of our health: better digestion, better sleep, and more energy.

Three Tools To Treat Pain Naturally

• Diet changes: Reduce your intake of refined carbohydrates and sugar. White flour, white rice, processed cereal grains, and sugar (which goes by many other names: fructose, sucrose, maltose - any additive that ends in "-ose" is a form of sugar) can all increase inflammation in the body (3, 4). Systemic inflammation is often a cause of or a contributor to pain, especially in joints and muscles.
• Mindfulness exercises: These can help change your orientation toward pain from passive to active, giving you a set of steps you can take when you experience pain. Instead of pain being something that happens to you, studies have identified mindfulness as a tool that encourages a different experience of pain, and changes how your brain processes pain, as shown in brain imaging (5).
• Acupuncture: Acupuncture causes increased circulation to decrease inflammation. It uses points on the body to treat pain at the site of injury or inflammation, and it has also been shown in fMRI studies to modify the brain responses to pain (6). This means that acupuncture treatments work on the symptoms of pain to relieve it immediately, while also treating the root causes of pain to eliminate it at the source. This combined approach is what makes acupuncture so effective at treating pain.

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Research Findings About Acupuncture

• A comprehensive study commissioned by the Department of Veterans Affairs found acupuncture to have a positive effect in the treatment of chronic pain, migraine and tension headache. The same study found a potentially positive effect in treating dysmenorrhea, cancer pain, labor pain, insomnia, post- operative nausea and vomiting, depression, and smoking cessation. (7)
• Acupuncture outperforms placebo in relieving the most common types of chronic pain: headache, low back, neck, shoulder and knee pain. Acupuncture significantly outperforms standard care in headache, low back, neck, and knee pain. (8)
• Acupuncture is superior to most forms of physical therapy in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. (9)
• Acupuncture can reduce the risk of nausea and vomiting after surgery, with minimal side effects. (10)
• The American College of Physicians recommends acupuncture as a first-line treatment for acute, subacute, and chronic low back pain. (11)
• The Joint Commission includes acupuncture as one of the non-pharmacological strategies that has a role in pain management in hospitals, nursing homes, and outpatient care. (12)

 
Don’t let pain consume one more day. If you are curious to learn how the benefits of Acupuncture can alleviate your pain, or that of an acquaintance, please contact us today to schedule a consultation with LifeStream Wellness.

By Danielle A. Sadler, L.Ac Dipl. O.M.
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​(1) Moayedi M., Davis K.D. Theories of pain: from specificity to gate control. Journal of Neurophysiology. (January 2013) vol. 109, no. 1: 5-12.
(2) Hansen G.R. MD, Streltzer, J. MD. The Psychology of Pain. Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America. (2005) vol. 23: 339-348.
(3) Schultz M.B., Hoffman K., et. al. Dietary Pattern, inflammation, and the incidence of type 2 diabetes in women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (Sept 2005) vol. 82, no. 3: 675-684.
(4) Aeberli I., Gerber P.A., et. al. Low to moderate sugar-sweetened beverage consumption impairs glucose and lipid metabolism and promotes inflammation in healthy young men: a randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (Aug 2011) 94,2: 479-485.
(5) Nascimento SS, Oliveira LR, DeSantana JM. Correlations between brain changes and pain management after cognitive and meditative therapies: A systematic review of neuroimaging studies. Complement Ther Med. 2018 Aug;39:137-145. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2018.06.006. Epub 2018 Jun 19. PMID: 30012384. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30012384/
(6) Bai L., Lao L. Neurobiological Foundations of Acupuncture: The Relevance and Future Prospect Based on Neuroimaging Evidence. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Volume 2013, Article ID 812568, 9 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/812568.
(7) Hempel S., Taylor S.L., Solloway M., et al. Evidence Map of Acupuncture. VAE-ESP Project #05-226; 2013.
(8) Vickers AJ, Cronin AM, Mascino AC, et al. Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med. 2012 Sep 10:1-10.
(9) Corbett M.S., Rice S.J.C., Madurasinghe, et al. Acupuncture and Other Physical Treatments for the Relief of Pain Due to Osteoarthritis of the Knee: Network Meta-analysis. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2013 Sep;21(9):1290-8.
(10) Lee A., Fan L.T.Y. Stimulation of the wrist acupuncture point P6 for preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD003281. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003281.pub3 - https://www.cochrane.org/CD003281/ANAESTH_wrist-pc6-acupuncture-point-stimulation-prevent-nausea-and-vomiting-after-surgery
(11) Qaseem A., Wilt T.J., McLean R.M., Forciea M.A. Clinical Guidelines Committee of the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med. Noninvasive Treatments for Acute, Subacute, and Chronic Low Back Pain: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the American College of Physicians. 2017 Apr 4; 166(7):514-530.
(12) The Joint Commission. Revisions to pain management standard effective January 1, 2015. Joint Commission Online. November 12, 2014. https://www.jointcommission.org/-/media/deprecated-unorganized/imported-assets/tjc/system-folders/joint-commission-online/jconline_november_12_14pdf.pdf?db=web&hash=0DDF129FFAEDC717DD2C75EFC5CA6BD0

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